


Coffee Mates

by ScrapyardBoyfriends



Category: Emmerdale, robron
Genre: Canon Divergent, M/M, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-26 06:08:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21369400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScrapyardBoyfriends/pseuds/ScrapyardBoyfriends
Summary: 6k+ words of self indulgent pre affair era fic where Aaron accepts that offered coffee and they take a slightly different route to their first kiss…brought to you by my rewatch feelings
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Comments: 11
Kudos: 131





	Coffee Mates

“So...mates?” Robert held out the coffee hoping Aaron would take the bait. 

He watched Aaron stare at the cup for a moment, considering, as he tapped the end of his pen against the clipboard in his other hand. Robert didn’t know why he cared so much whether he and Aaron were on good terms. For some reason, he just hated the thought of him being mad at him, judging him. He didn’t know when Aaron’s opinion of him started to matter. 

One last tap of the pen and Aaron turned to set the clipboard down in the office. “I’ll think about it,” he said and that wasn’t a no. “Will take that coffee though,” he added, reaching out and taking the proffered cup in his hand. 

Robert smiled, couldn’t help himself apparently. It wasn’t his usual smile and something in his stomach wouldn’t stop fluttering as Aaron took a sip of his coffee and Robert watched the liquid work down his throat as he swallowed. He gulped, not the coffee. 

“What is this?” Aaron asked as he made a face at it, leaning against the car parked in the garage for service. 

“Americano,” Robert told him as he awkwardly leaned against the car next to him. He’d never felt so out of sorts. He didn’t like it but he couldn’t leave either. 

“That what you drink?” Aaron pointed at his cup with the jut of his chin. Robert nodded. “More of a tea man myself. Or a latte I suppose.”

“A latte,” Robert found himself smiling again, laughing a bit. 

“Shut it,” Aaron snapped but it was playful and it eased something in his chest. He’d never really had a mate before. 

Though now that the coffee talk was done, he wasn’t sure where to take the conversation. “So uhh...worked here long?”

Aaron looked at him strangely, like this wasn’t the kind of mates they were and Robert cast his eyes down to where he fiddled with the heat guard on the to go cup. 

“At the garage? Not long this time I suppose but I uhh...worked here before I went to France,” Aaron mumbled out the answer like he was unsure, biting at his lip in a way that Robert found fascinating. 

“France,” Robert said aloud, filing away the information when Aaron looked uncomfortable about it. “I used to work here, you know.”

Aaron visibly relaxed with the change of subject, a smirk playing on his lips. “You? Didn’t think you’d want to get your hands dirty.”

“Oi! I reckon I was a better mechanic than you,” he argued, knowing it probably wasn’t true.

“Was, being the operative word, mate,” Aaron laughed. 

“Bet I still could,” he pushed further, hoping Aaron wouldn’t ask him to prove it. 

“So if we turned around and I asked you what was wrong with this car, you’d be able to tell me, yeah?” Aaron challenged him. 

Robert’s face fell slightly. Of course he would make him prove it. Maybe it wouldn’t be that hard though. Maybe it was an easy problem to fix. He started to turn but all of a sudden Aaron was laughing again and he had a hand on Robert’s shoulder. The touch sparked something inside of him, the same as it had when Aaron had thrown him up against that wall. It made him itch a bit, especially in full view of the village but he didn’t want him to take his hand away. 

“Robert stop,” Aaron laughed. It was an amazing sound to come out of such a usually grumpy person. “I’m not gonna test ya.” 

“I could have-“ he said uselessly

“Sure,” Aaron shook his head. 

Robert settled back against the car and if he stood a little closer to Aaron, neither of them commented on it. “So...tell me about this car you’re going to find for me.”

—-

With an arm full of paperwork, Robert passed by the garage as he headed toward the pub to meet Andy. Only he saw Cain leaving on his break and Aaron watching him go with a frown. He preferred Aaron smiling. The thought had come out of nowhere. He shook his head at it but still turned in his tracks and headed toward the cafe for a brief stop. 

—-

Aaron sighed at all of the work Cain had left for him, thankful at least that he had the next day off. He could use it. He felt knackered having been up half the night looking for cars for Robert. He had a pretty good idea of what he was looking for after their chat yesterday, their surprisingly normal chat. After all the fake burglary and confrontations in the pub toilets, he wasn’t sure Robert was capable of it but it had been nice. He’d enjoyed himself when Robert wasn’t playing the arrogant and entitled lord of the manner. That was unexpected. 

“Coffee?” 

Aaron turned around to find Robert there again, two coffees in his hand and a sheepish smile on his face that almost didn’t seem right.

“Two days in a row?” Aaron couldn’t help himself but grin as he took the cup. “People might start talking.”

He watched Robert twitch at that and made a note of it. This wasn’t the first time he thought something was up but it was the most glaring. Of course the way his mum and Katie went on about him, it didn’t seem possible. 

“Thanks,” he said, trying to ease the situation. If he was right, he didn’t want to spook Robert further. He took a sip of his coffee. “Mmm a latte.”

“Well you did say-“

Aaron smiled at the fact that Robert had actually paid attention to him yesterday. Still, he could tell he was nervous all of a sudden, shifting from foot to foot in front of him. It was strange seeing Robert with some of his confidence stripped away. These were the times he felt like he was seeing the real him, like the hurt in his voice when he’d talked about his mother’s memorial getting ruined. And he hadn’t been wrong apparently. It had been a fake heart attack. Most of the sympathy he’d had for the Lawrence of Edna’s stories had slipped away after that. 

“So what’s all that for?” Aaron asked, pointing at the thick folder under his arm, and trying to steer the conversation toward something new. 

“Oh,” Robert said, adjusting himself, standing up a bit straighter. “Contracts for Andy to sign for Wiley’s Farm.”

“Oh yeah, heard Katie talking to me mum at the bar about that. Didn’t sound happy.”

“Well they wanted the place practically for free,” Robert argued. 

“He is your brother,” Aaron pointed out, knowing full well there was always something brewing between those two. It seemed like Vic had been a wreck about it since Robert had blown back into the village. 

“And they’ll get a fair price,” Robert said matter of factly, looking Aaron over like he was trying to read him. It wasn’t the same kind of appraising look that he’d cautiously given him yesterday when he thought Aaron wasn’t looking. This one looked defensive. “I earned everything I’ve got.”

Ah, so there it was. “Didn’t day you hadn’t” Aaron assured him. 

“Right,” Robert nodded, seeming at least mildly satisfied. “I should go anyway.”

“Yeah,” Aaron shrugged but added “I’ll see you around, yeah?” Because for some reason he had decided that he wanted to try and be friends with Robert Sugden. 

—-

After a long day, all he wanted was to slob out on the sofa in front of the Telly and crack open a beer or something. He didn’t count on being confronted with a Sugden family meal upon entering the back room. 

“Oh sorry, didn’t realize anyone was in here,” he said, pausing in the doorway. 

The situation looked tense and he could sense the hostility radiating between Robert and Andy across the table. He wasn’t sure he wanted to intrude. Intending to go, he started back out the door but Diane’s voice halted him. 

“Oh that’s alright,” she called out to him. “There’s plenty here if you’d like a plate.”

He watched Robert shift uncomfortably at that, the idea of him being there and that kind of made him want to push things. Just a bit further to prove a point. 

“I’m sure he wouldn’t want to intrude,” Robert said, and Aaron could almost feel the nerves coming off of him in waves. “This being a family meal and all.”

“Spot of home cooking would be great actually,” Aaron said before he could stop himself, pushing into the room and heading for the kitchen. 

He glanced back at Robert, taking in the rigid set of his shoulders and could see him panicking. Like a magnet, Robert’s eyes were drawn to his but quickly, he looked away again, back down at the table, flexing his fingers over his plate. 

“It’s a nice thought, Diane,” he sighed, “but it’s not really working is it.”

With that, he got up from the table and stalked out of the room, leaving Aaron with little doubt. He just wasn’t sure how to play it from here. Robert was engaged after all. 

—-

Robert sat in his car, idling. He should just go home but something was stopping him. His leg twitched and his stomach wouldn’t settle and he didn’t think it was Vic’s cooking. His sister wasn’t half bad as a chef. It was Aaron. Him just coming into the back room like that like he- well he did live there but still. He made him feel uneasy and he knew why, he just didn’t want to think about it. Too close to home, he reminded himself, the same thought he’d had when he found out Aaron was gay. So why couldn’t he stay away?

A tap on his window made him jump and he looked up to find Aaron standing there with a coffee in each hand. Something unraveled in his gut and he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. 

“What are these in aid of?” He asked as he rolled the window down. 

“Just thought you could uhh... use a mate,” Aaron said and Robert could tell he was nervous, which somehow put him more at ease. 

“Oh are we mates now then?” He asked, getting out of the car despite the rain that misted down on them. He was scrabbling for control and the banter seemed to provide it. 

“If you’d like,” Aaron shrugged, playing along. 

“Knew I’d wear you down eventually,” Robert said as he leaned against his car, aiming for casual. 

“If you say so,” Aaron said, his tone nonchalant but the ghost of a smile on his lips betrayed him, taking up his spot, leaning beside him. 

—-

So they were mates now, enough so that when Chrissie kicked off at Leyla’s flirtatious behavior while measuring him for his suit, he texted Aaron, having exchanged numbers last night as they drank their coffees in companionable silence, deftly avoiding the subject of his train wreck of a family dinner. He had been glad about that, not wanting to try and defend his position against Andy again. All Aaron had said about it was that he’d always wanted a brother until he met them and he’d said it in a way that made Robert believe he might be on his side and that pleased him more than it should have. 

“If you keep believing the worst in people, that’s exactly what you’re going to get,” Robert had told Chrissie on his way out. 

She’d been wrong. He didn’t have any interest in Leyla, even if he was always up for a bit of flirty banter. He’d been thinking about Aaron but he was trying his hardest not to and Chrissie’s attitude made that impossible. She’d been trying to catch him out since they moved here and he was getting a bit tired of it. Not that he didn’t have form in the past. He frowned at the thought, thinking of Rebecca, of the one night stands, but he’d been trying to turn over a new leaf since they got engaged and she was making that difficult. 

Aaron met him at the cafe, coffees already on the table waiting when he arrived, sliding onto the sofa next to him rather than across, which he should have done but he was feeling bold. He took a sip of his Americano, from a mug this time instead of a to go cup, letting the caffeine revive him and then leaned his head back against the sofa, sighing. 

“Rough day?” Aaron asked, a light amusement in his voice. 

“Chrissie’s doing my head in,” Robert replied. 

“Oh,” Aaron hummed and Robert couldn’t tell if it was disappointment he heard in his voice or hopefulness. He wasn’t sure which he’d rather. 

“Don’t really want to talk about it,” Robert set it aside. He’d rather not talk about Chrissie with Aaron. Something about that just made him feel weird. “How’s your day been?”

“You really want to know?” Aaron asked, sounding surprised. 

“Well we are mates now, aren’t we?” He hated that he was having to double check. He wasn’t used to this whole maintaining a friendship thing. It wasn’t as like a business deal as he would have liked. 

“Yeah,” Aaron smiled and then frowned, which made Robert nervous again. “Was smiling this morning and Mum asked if there was something wrong with my face.”

“Well you are usually a rather grumpy git,” Robert teased. 

“Oh cause you’re a ray of sunshine at all times,” Aaron scoffed, nudging at Robert with his shoulder. 

Again, the touch made his brain short circuit for a moment, which was pathetic. He found himself glancing around to make sure no one saw, hiding his uneasiness in another sip of his coffee. They were mates, he reminded himself, no one was going to think anything of it. 

“So did you see that new top gear episode?” He asked dumbly. Aaron had mentioned he liked the show when they had been talking cars that first day. 

Aaron’s eyes brightened. “Yeah, was a good one. You actually watched it?”

“Thought I’d see what all the fuss was about,” he replied. He’d enjoyed it more than he thought he would but then he’d always been into cars. 

Aaron grinned at him and launched into a full account of his favorite parts of the episode and Robert couldn’t help but listen intently, which was strange because he couldn’t remember the last time he’d given anyone his full attention like this. Then again, Aaron always seemed to have that effect on him. 

“We should have an actual drink,” Aaron said eventually after he’d given him a full recommendation of other episodes and shows he should check out, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after slurping up the dregs of his coffee. It was disgusting but Robert didn’t seem to mind. 

He faltered at the question though. Were they ‘have a pint after work kind of friends’? He’d barely gotten used to the coffee dates...not dates. “Yeah,” he stammered before he could stop himself. 

“Woolpack later?” Aaron suggested. 

“Oh,” Robert was sort of hoping they might get out of the village. Less prying eyes. But they were mates. What did it matter? 

Only Andy and Katie chose that exact moment to wander into the cafe and he froze, wondering how it looked with him sitting so close to Aaron on the sofa. He shifted away as they caught sight of them, Katie frowning immediately. Andy didn’t look like he’d softened toward him at all since their dinner either. It served him right for taking Lawrence’s handouts while the old git was trying to stitch him up. He was only trying to make an actual profit now. It was just good business and he was good at his job. 

“Don’t think Chas would appreciate the company you’re keeping Aaron,” Katie sneered. 

Well luckily she had a one track mind but Andy was looking at them strangely. 

“Luckily, I’m capable of picking my own mates,” Aaron snapped back. 

He couldn’t even revel in that because Andy had to go and say, “Didn’t realize you two had gotten so close.”

Robert squirmed at the wording, heart rate increasing. He felt all the coffee in his stomach sloshing around. “I uhh...I have to get going anyway. Meeting.”

He didn’t have a meeting. He just had to get out from under Andy and Katie’s scrutiny. Wouldn’t want to give his brother this one opportunity to get a clue. 

“And about that drink?” Aaron asked as he got up. 

Andy and Katie were still watching but if he said no then Katie would probably accuse him of being a bad mate already. So he said, “Yeah, I’ll see you later.” And then he all but ran out of there, a text from Aaron buzzing on his phone telling him he’d see him at seven. 

—-

“Look you have every right to be mad at me, I’m mad at myself,” Chrissie said immediately upon him entering the house. 

She went on about getting jealous and weird and that she hated being like that he just stood there feeling lost and thrown and shaken from Andy and Katie interrupting him and Aaron. He mumbled something about her needing to start trusting him more and then suddenly she was kissing him like everything was alright and for a split second, he wondered what it would be like to be kissing Aaron. He’d thought about it before, fleetingly but he’d always pushes it away and it had never been when he was with Chrissie. 

“Not so fast,” he told her as she started walking away, argument resolved. 

“What are you doing?” she laughed as he pulled her back and kissed her again, making it count this time, ignoring the fact that her laughter didn’t give him the same buzz of happiness that Aaron’s did. 

This, Chrissie, was all he needed. He and Aaron were mates and that was it. A friend in the village would do him good, he thought and then turned his mind off and focused on getting Chrissie out of her blouse and onto the sofa. 

They lay there afterwards, her stroking his bare chest as Robert tried to get comfortable on such a miserable piece of furniture. He wished Lawrence hadn’t been so stubborn about keeping all of the old decor. He would have liked a nice comfortable sofa to lounge about on, to have sex on, but no, they were stuck with this thing. Already, he knew he’d be paying for this little extra curricular activity with a back ache later. 

“Well that was unexpected,” Chrissie was saying and he guessed it was but it was what he needed. “I should get jealous more often.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Robert forced a smile. 

And then she was telling him she trusted him completely and that she knew him better than anyone and all of a sudden he wasn’t sure because did she? Did she know him better than anyone? Sometimes he felt like she only knew the side of him that he put on show for people, that she couldn’t see what was underneath. He felt like she should have been able to even if he didn’t let that side of him slip out often but she didn’t. Glancing at his watch, he saw the time and knew that he needed to get going if he was going to meet Aaron. He should have probably blown him off, taken Chrissie upstairs to their bed and gone for round too. Surely, Aaron would understand that but he wanted to see him. Because for some reason, he felt like out of anyone in the whole village, Aaron was starting to be the one that saw him the most. 

Pushing himself off the sofa, he grabbed for his shirt, throwing it over his head. “Sorry,” he told her, “I just remembered. I said I’d meet Aaron for a drink.” 

“Aaron? From the garage?” Chrissie sounded shocked. “I didn’t realize you and he were even-”

“Mates,” Robert supplied for her, wanting to define it again. “Well, you know, after I bought him that drink to thank him for fixing your car we got to talking and he’s got an appreciation for classic cars too.” That was a lie, Aaron preferred whatever was fast and flashy and new, but Chrissie didn’t need to know that. 

“Oh go on, have your boys night out then, but don’t be late back,” she winked at him and he felt queasy all of a sudden. 

\---

If Aaron spent a little too much time fixing his hair and putting on a bit of aftershave before going downstairs and into the pub to meet Robert, he didn’t dwell on it. They’re mates and Robert was straight and engaged to a woman, he reminded himself. Even if Robert’s gaze did linger on him a little too long sometimes, even if he seemed to jolt every time someone implied even the slightest bit going on between them, even if he smiled at him in a way he’d never seen him smile at anyone else. He shook his head and headed into the pub, suddenly accosted by every rainbow decoration in the whole of Yorkshire strewn across the place. 

“Gay night!” Vic said brightly as she passed him with a plate of food. “You wish.” 

He panicked a little, wondering what Robert would make of all of this when he came to meet him. If his suspicions were at all correct, he worried this might scare him off. He could head him off and they could go somewhere else but he kind of wanted to see how he would react. So he shrugged at Vic and grabbed himself a pint, settling in at the bar to wait. 

Cain was settled into the testosterone booth in the corner with David, looking miserable. “Thought your mum would set this up for ya, get ya fixed up,” he told him with a wry smile. 

It was clearly Ali and Ruby’s hen night he assured himself as he looked around, though he wouldn’t put it past his mum. “Don’t need fixing up. Besides, I’m meeting someone.” 

“Oh?” Vic asked as she rounded the bar again. “Who?” 

“Just your brother,” he said, trying to sound casual about it. 

“Andy?” 

“No, Robert,” Aaron told her.

“Didn’t realize you two were mates? Missing Adam that much are ya?” she laughed. 

“Nah, he’s alright,” Aaron said and he meant it, though it still surprised him. 

“And there he is,” Vic pointed out as a shell shocked looking Robert came in, dodging a falling rainbow banner, swatting at it with his arms until it left him alone. 

Aaron could see the panic in his eyes, panic he knew well, that feeling that somehow everyone was just going to know. He’d wanted to test him a bit but now he just sort of felt sorry for him, wanted to put him at ease so he called him over and ordered him a pint off Alicia. Robert sat down cautiously beside him, gulping as he glanced around, before something inside him reset and he plastered that smug smile of his on his face again.

“What’s up with this place?” he said, a mocking edge to his tone, as he took a deep drink of his beer. 

Aaron was momentarily distracted as he watched him lick the foam off his top lip but he recovered quickly. “Ali and Ruby’s hen night,” he gestured toward the large group of women crowding around the middle tables of the pub. 

“Oh, right,” Robert nodded, seeming to relax a little. 

By the time Ashley showed up in drag to try and win Harriet’s heart, he was fully settled, the two of them laughing along with all the rest at the absurdity of the scene. It was easy, the two of them. And maybe Vic was right and he was trying to fill the void Adam had left in his life when he went to prison but he liked Robert, more than he should. 

\---

Robert’s thinking about Aaron, even though he knows he shouldn’t be. Once he’d gotten past the pub looking like a gay unicorn had thrown up all over it, he’d had a really good night with him. And maybe their legs had brushed together under the bar one too many times and maybe he’d used the excuse of laughing too hard at Ashley’s drag act that he’d put a hand on Aaron’s shoulder and leaned on him, but it was fine, that’s what mates did. 

“Gold Digger,” Chrissie said, as a bad song suggestion for their reception, pulling him out of his Aaron thoughts for a moment. 

“Suspicious Minds,” he bantered back as she took a phone call. 

He was walking away, caught up in his distractions again, when he heard it was Aaron she was talking to. He whipped around and tried not to look too interested. Apparently he’d found the car he wasn’t supposed to know about but Chrissie caved and told him anyway. It was the Austin Healey he’d been going on about wanting forever. He’d told Aaron all about it too and he’d assured him he could find him one. 

It was a beautiful car and he had to admit that Aaron looked good sitting in the driver’s seat when they arrived to take a look at it. He’d slid out though and slapped him across the back like mates do as Robert had gotten in, running his fingers over the leather of the steering wheel, ready to take it for a test drive. 

When they got back to the house, Chrissie had wanted to drag Aaron away to discuss the price without him hearing because this was after all, still supposed to be a wedding present. Instead, they’d gotten too caught up talking about all of the specs of the car, arguing playfully over how fast it could go if it weren’t for dodgy country roads and so Chrissie had left them to it, bringing them drinks in the living room. A coffee for him and a cup of tea for Aaron, milk and two sugars, he filed away for later. 

It felt strange having Aaron up at Home Farm, and not in a balaclava playing the part of the thief he knew he wasn’t now. His two worlds were colliding again in a different sort of way but Chrissie took no real notice of it so he tried to just enjoy it. It didn’t escape his notice that Aaron being there somehow made the massive house feel a bit more like home and less a proving ground. He liked that. 

\---

On Monday, he had his tea with Vic and Diane in the pub and Aaron joined them halfway through, certainly a better choice than Andy. Although Diane promised him that she wouldn’t stop trying to get them to make peace. Something about a promise to Jack but he tuned her out as soon as she said his dad’s name. He didn’t want to hear it, especially not with Aaron sitting right next to him and the thoughts that were going through his head because he looked good. Snug in his purple hoodie that he’d taken note of before because it seemed to be the only bit of color in his mostly black wardrobe. His hair had a little less product in it, he thought too and hated himself just a bit for noticing. Mostly, he just couldn’t stop staring at the angles of his face in profile or the way his throat worked as he swallowed down his beer. 

Aaron was looking too, he knew. They both looked away every time they were caught out. It was like a little private game, one he was enjoying too much. It got ruined for a moment when Finn came in, staring wistfully at Aaron as he passed by, waving to Vic, before he went to meet his brother, the farmer, not the thief. 

“Still don’t know why you won’t give Finn a shot, Aaron,” Vic slurred. His sister had had too much wine. 

Aaron wrinkled his nose at the thought and Robert scoffed, trying to ignore the pang of jealousy in his gut at the thought of Aaron with anyone else. 

“He’s hardly his type,” Robert blurted out before his brain could catch up to his tongue. 

“Oh and you know his type, do you?” Vic laughed. 

“Maybe he does,” Aaron said boldly, and Robert knew if he turned, he’d catch Aaron eyeing him up again. 

Diane was busy with a customer and Vic was too sloshed to really notice so he risked a glance, finding a pair of bright blue eyes watching his every move, lips parted just slightly like they were waiting for his. All he wanted to do was to drag him off to the toilets and kiss the life out of him.

“What did I miss?” Diane asked as she came back over. 

And the moment was lost. 

\---

Robert kicked at the pavement, digging his toe into the loose gravel, as he waited, checking his phone several times to make sure that Aaron had agreed to come and pick him up. His hands were balled up into fists at his sides. All he wanted to do was bash his brother’s face in. First he’d gone and chosen Vic as his best man, which...whatever. It’s not like he ever thought he’d choose him anyway. But Diane had gone and given him his dad’s wedding ring for him and Katie, to melt down and make two rings out of it. He couldn’t believe she had the audacity to do that without even asking him. He was getting married too and no one was offering him family heirlooms. He’d worked so hard to make-

A car drove up, and the window rolled down, Aaron looking him over and taking him in. “Want to go somewhere?” he asked casually. 

“Gun shop?” Robert suggested. 

Aaron shook his head. “Just get in.” 

Robert nodded, rounding the car and climbing into the passenger seat. He leaned back against the headrest and tried to calm himself down but it was no use, he was raging. Even Aaron’s presence wasn’t calming him the way it usually did. 

“Where to?” Aaron asked. 

“Dunno, anywhere,” Robert answered, hoping Aaron would just take the lead. He didn’t have space in his head right now to think about anything other than how much he hated Andy, his whole family, Jack. 

\---

Aaron took him to Bar West. He knew he shouldn’t but it did fall under ‘anywhere’ and it was always a safe place for Aaron, aside from that first time. When they walked in, though, Robert paled, glancing around and seeing all the blokes, some holding hands across tables, others kissing in the corner even though it’s the middle of the day. Immediately, he looked like he wanted to bolt. He’d turned halfway toward the door already but Aaron grabbed hold of his arm. 

“Robert, wait,” Aaron tried, pulling him back. 

“Why would you bring me here?” Robert snapped at him, angry and defensive. 

Aaron’s heart broke for him a little, wondered if this is what people felt like when they looked at him fighting it all those years ago. “I just, I like this place and they do serve people who aren’t gay.” 

Shaking him off, Robert pulled his arm back into his side. “Well good, cause I’m not.” 

“Right,” Aaron nodded and steered him toward the bar to get a beer. He figured he could use it. 

They’re quiet for a long time, Robert downing bottle after bottle and looking thoroughly miserable while doing so. He was glad Robert called him but he could hardly help if he didn’t know what the problem was in the first place. It was definitely more than just his clear aversion to gay bars. 

“You want to tell me what happened?” Aaron pushed. 

Robert looked away from him for a minute or two, Aaron chewing on his thumbnail while he waited him out. “Diane gave Andy my dad’s ring. They’re having it melted down for him and Katie,” he explained finally. 

That was probably the last thing Aaron had expected to hear him say. “Well that’s...nice. I suppose.”  
But Robert looked like it was anything but. A twitch of anger contorted his face as he slammed his latest bottle down on the table, making the others jump and then settle with a chorus of clangs. Aaron wracked his brain, remembering the way Robert had pulled away from him immediately when Andy and Katie had shown up in the cafe the other day, the way he’d avoided any and all talk of his dad with Diane at the bar when they’d had their tea. He knew Robert had a lot of baggage when it came to his family but he couldn’t quite put it all together to make sense of it. 

“You wanted the ring,” he put out there. 

“They didn’t even ask me,” Robert told him. “She just gave it away. Andy’s not even his real son.”

“Robert-”

“Don’t alright. I’ve finally-I’ve worked so hard-I’m getting married too, you know,” Robert stumbled over the words, slurring a bit. 

“To a woman,” Aaron ventured, wondering if Jack Sugden had known something. 

“I’m not gay,” Robert sneered at him, looking disgusted at the thought. 

It hurt. Aaron knew he probably didn’t mean it like that, but it still hurt. “Robert it’s okay-”

“No,” Robert said firmly and stood up, grabbing his jacket. “I’ll find my own way home.” 

\---

Adam came home the next day and Aaron fell into a comfortable rhythm with his best friend. It was almost like they’d never been apart, separated by France and then prison. They were in the Woolpack, having a few beers, playing darts and he wasn’t thinking about Robert. Well, he was trying not to anyway. After he’d stalked off the day before, he’d decided he’d give him some space perhaps, let him get his head around stuff maybe before he approached him again. Adam was a welcome distraction from all of that. 

The reprieve didn’t last long though because all of a sudden Robert had appeared while he went to pull the darts out of the board for his next turn. He was there, leaning against the bar, talking to Victoria and glaring at him. Well, no, he was glaring at Adam. 

“Who’s that?” he heard him ask his sister. 

“Oh just the love of his life,” Vic sighed dramatically, which he could see was just rubbing salt in an already festering wound. “No, that’s Adam, Moira’s son.” 

Robert nodded, turning back to them and glaring harder, like if he tried hard enough he could make Adam disappear. Shaking his head, he wondered what Robert would make of the fact that he used to have a little crush on Adam, back when he was young and stupid and just sorting out his head. 

Three turns later, he was tired of it, feeling Robert’s eyes boring into the back of his head every time he turned around, tired of seeing his sulking face every time he looked back at him. If he wanted him, he could have him any time. The realization made his skin heat up because he knew it was true. He wasn’t sure when that had happened. He guess Ross hadn’t been wrong when he said he fancied him. He couldn’t seem to help himself. 

Adam punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Where’s your head at, bro?” 

“Nowhere,” Aaron sighed, dragging his eyes away from Robert’s intense gaze. “Get the next round in, yeah? Just gotta nip to the bogs.” 

“Yeah alright,” Adam agreed, heading to make eyes at Vic at the bar. Aaron knew that would keep him busy. 

In the toilets, he leaned against the wall and waited. As expected, Robert followed him in, looking half crazed with jealousy. It shouldn’t have been a turn on but it was. Aaron peeled himself away from the wall and crowded into Robert’s space which only served to make him nervous, backing away like cold water had been doused over him. 

“I don’t get you,” Aaron said. “One minute you’re staring at me like that and then the next you’re running. What are you so scared of?”

“I’m not scared,” Robert argued, but he didn’t sound convincing. 

“Then,” Aaron started, stepping closer again, but Robert took another step back, his back hitting the wall behind him, trapped. “You’re a coward.” 

Aaron hurled the word at him and turned to go. He’d tried the soft approach, but it didn’t seem to work. Issuing a challenge might be the only way to get through to Robert. 

\---

‘Coward’.

The word rang in Robert’s ears as he watched Aaron go, his whole body alert and wanting. He wanted Aaron so badly it was killing him at this point and it was clear that Aaron wanted him too. So what was the problem? Everything. He couldn’t. It was one thing to have a one night stand with a random bloke on a business trip he was never going to see again. It was another to go after the local grumpy mechanic on his own doorstep, in the village he grew up in, the village that felt like a fishbowl at the best of times. And he knew, deep down, if he went there, it would never just be a one night stand. 

His feet were taking him out of the door and chasing after Aaron before his mind could stop him. He’d gone out the back and was stomping stubbornly through the village. Robert felt ridiculous running after him but he couldn’t help himself. 

“Will you wait up?” he called after him. 

Aaron rounded on him, eyes narrowed, and spit the words at him. “No Robert. You had your chance and you just blew it.” 

He turned again and continued on and Robert followed, a new determination taking hold. This is what he’d wanted, he knew that, from that first offered coffee. From the first time he saw him in that barn really, his quiet confidence a sharp contrast to Ross running his mouth. He’d wanted him then and he wanted him now, so much so he was traipsing across half the village to get to him. 

Finally, he caught up to him on the bridge, the trees shading them from view, secluded. “Aaron,” he called his name. 

“What?” he grunted as he turned on his heel to face him. “I can’t keep doing this forever. I don’t like being messed around. I mean if you just want to be mates then-”

“I don’t,” Robert blurted, his hands shaking at his sides. “I mean...you know-”

“I know,” Aaron said quietly and reached out toward him. 

It was involuntary but he flinched and all of a sudden Aaron was seeing red again and trying to push past him, his shoulder knocking into him roughly. He was messing this up. He couldn’t let him go again. Hand shooting out, he grabbed hold of Aaron’s arm and twisted him back around to face him and before he could think about the long list of reasons why this was a terrible idea, he lunged at him, hands grabbing at his cheeks, rough stubble scraping against his palms, and pulling him toward him, mashing their lips together in a frenzied kiss. A kiss that took his breath away. A kiss that would no doubt make his life very complicated but a kiss he’d never forget.


End file.
